Running the town of Woodstsock is not a one-person show. It’s all possible through teamwork, said Woodstock Town Supervisor Bill McKenna as he looks ahead to the coming year.
“It’s a team effort. It’s not one person, and without a good team, you just don’t get anywhere,” said McKenna, as he was joined by Confidential Secretary Melanie Marino and Bookkeeper Pam Boyle. He spoke well of Town Clerk Jackie Earley and her office, as well as the other offices that keep the town running.
Marino, who started in September, has taken on additional roles, which now include handling some operations at Woodstock Cemetery, which the town took over in 2018.
On the immediate horizon is the town offices renovation on Comeau Drive, which is already underway with the concrete foundation recently poured.“So it’s going to be a little disruptive. I think part of the emphasis is going to be on just maintaining operations and making sure we assist the public. I mean, we’re in the service business here,” he said. “And just making sure that we help folks with their needs as best we can.”
Departments will need to move around and the public may need to enter through the back of the building during different phases of construction, he noted.The Building and Planning departments and the Assessor’s office will move into the addition when it is completed, and that will commence the shuffling of personnel within the building.
“They’ll need to do work on the town clerk’s (office), so she’s going to have to go somewhere. It’ll probably be into the small lunch area in the new edition. And then once she’s back in her office, we have to go somewhere, and we’ll probably be upstairs for a couple of months while they do this building,” he said, referring to the Supervisor’s Cottage.
“So that’s when it’ll start to get a little dicey. Also, once we move the folks downstairs and they’re working in the main building, the public’s going to have a little bit more difficulty getting in. They’re going to have to go around and come in from the backside, so they’re not going through a construction site. So there’ll be a little inconvenience there.”
But McKenna is already thinking about the next capital project. The Youth Center is long overdue after the building was neglected for a decades.“I wanted to put money in a capital (reserve) for that. But hasn’t quite happened yet,” he said.“I think it should be torn down, actually…I’m a big believer in recycling and reusing and rebuilding but I think in this case, that building is just in such poor condition, and is just so ill-designed for what we’re using it for.”
The youth center is located in the former rectory for St. Joan d’Arc Church, which became the Community Center when the town purchased the land in 1974.
“I think that’s a conversation we start to have.”
Cash reserves
Still in the works is the unappropriated fund balance, which the Town Board started discussing in June, but then put off for another time.
McKenna said the money can sit there and earn interest until the board decides how to use it, but then the town would be in violation of its own policy, which caps the amount carried over to the next year at $650,000.
“We’re probably at a million and a half,” McKenna said, as Boyle nodded in agreement.
But now, thanks to a sales and mortgage tax windfall, some of that fund balance can be used to pay the balance of the Comeau renovation instead of bonding $1 million as originally planned and was approved by voters.
“Now that we’ve seen interest rates start to really rise, and we’re ready to borrow a million dollars for this project, what I put out to the board is my recommendation that we just use the fund balance. We have more than enough. We had great sales tax this year. I mean, just off the charts,” McKenna said.
At the last estimate, the town will save $288,000 in interest over 15 years if it decides not to borrow the $1 million. It could be more if interest rates continue to rise.
“I’m a big believer when you have unanticipated revenues like that, it’s best to spend them on capital projects, one time expenses. It’s one of the things I disagree with the county executive. They just created 42 positions on the back of sales tax,” McKenna said, noting those jobs are in jeopardy if the economy slows.
“It’s a double-edged sword, and Pam can vouch. We could have taken some of this revenue and reduced taxes, but the problem is, at some point that’s going to catch up, and then you’re left with a huge tax increase that puts you above the cap,” he said. “We could be giving the taxpayers a little bit of a break with the property tax, but the other side of it is we’re able to do all these capital projects with borrowing very little money. They’re good long-term investments. Most of the communities are not doing as much capital work as we are because it puts them over the cap.”
Affordable housing action to take better part of year
The next big action item is the series of zoning changes recommended by the Housing Oversight Task Force to strike a balance between short-term rentals and long-term housing availably. Changes include encouraging affordable housing through the use of accessory dwelling units, such as above-garage apartments or other structures on the property. The zoning amendments also make changes to density to allow more units where appropriate, among other recommendations.
“As a former builder, I was thinking about the nuts and bolts and the concrete projects. But that’ll be a big task this year coming up, and my guess is it’ll take a good part of the year to get it passed. It’s not going to be easy. It will take time,” he said.
“We need to deal with affordable housing if we want to have a diverse community and a community where our employees could afford to live. It’s getting harder and harder for that,’ McKenna said.
“It’s all about teamwork. We have great team up here. It is the employees that make us or break us,” he said.
“(The late Supervisor) Jeremy (Wilber) used to say that, and it’s really true. I’m blessed to have a really good staff here in this office and across the way too. We have a great town clerk. We work well together, and I think we’ve had a really great run and I think next year is just going to be continuation of that.”
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